Cindy Cutrera, Port of Morgan City and President of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals and Dr. Joe Manous, Jr., Director for the Institute of Water Resources (IWR) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the Memorandum in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 12th.

Through the IWR, the Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center (NDC), exercises its Federal responsibility for establishing and maintaining a variety of water transportation automatic information systems that include databases and statistics pertaining to waterborne commodity and vessel movements, domestic commercial vessel characteristics, port and waterway facilities, lock facilities, lock operations, and navigation dredging projects, and helps ensure that USACE decisions are based on the best available data.
“While we are all different, some of the problems experienced by our Members, such as inadequate funding and tonnage reporting, we have common issues throughout the Inland River system”, says Cindy Cutrera. One of those challenges includes conveying an accurate account of what travels on the river system and how much the nation depends on the river system being open for commercial navigation.
It is our vision to navigate a path forward through strategic partnerships, such as with the Institute of Water Resources for an accurate reporting system with valuable data that shows the truest value of the inland waterway system for freight transportation in order to support adequate, long-term funding.